**POLL** Have you ever used a private tutor for your DC?

[thedollyridesout]

If so, what subject and at what age/level?

I've just been reading a reseach paper on this but I reckon I'll get as good a sample by asking the question here.

yes... twice in my boys school life so far.
maths help for my dyscalculic/dypsraxic son
and 11+ for my other son

Am planning to get one for the 11 plus for dd2 and ds. Didn't with dd1 and tbh I don't think they actually need a tutor, but I found it very stressful doing it myself and worried about my relationship with dd.

Yes,...twice,both youngest dds had 11+ coaching to put them on a level playing field with the rest of the entrants.

Entrance exam preparation for DS and DD. For a year.

Apparently maths is the most tutored subject.

I had DS1 tutored for maths -- he has dyscalculia. I also had some light 11+ tutoring for DD1 and probably will for DD2.

Has anyone used a science tutor?

DS2 has a tutor for French. DSI had a tutor for GCSE science. She got a B. If we hadn't engaged a tutor I think she just might just have managed a C. DS1 and DS2 were both tutored for one term before the 11plus. I think this has been money well spent.

EEk sorry I meant DDs. Mega dose Antihistimine making me forget the gender of my own children.

Yes DS2 11+ tutoring [successful] and gcse maths for DS1 [because his teacher is so crap!]takes it next june. I think it's worth it.

No, and we are unlikely to. Partly because we aren't very into selective education so don't have to worry about any exams til GCSEs, also we find it quite easy to help our dc ourselves and (not that we're arrogant, obviously we tend to think we know more than the average tutor anyway.... and we quite like helping our dc with maths and science and languages etc.

I'm not sure why you think will get a good sample on here, any research paper that used this as a sample would be rejected, it's a self-selected sample, on a site which isn't representative of parents.

Yes. DS aged 8 for maths. Youngest in year and 2 years of mediocre teachers. Was assessed and found to be 'under-achieving'. Half and hour once a week for half school year.

Which parents is it not representative of Fennel?

I am curious as to whether or not this 'sample' will show the same bias for certain subjects.

Yes, 11 plus (runs away shrieking at the memory)
And dd will be having a maths tutor up till GCSE.

This is an "opportunity sample" - whoever happens to come along and answer. YOu can't do good statistical analysis on an opportunity sample, normally you should ensure that you get a representative sample. Or at least you'd need a way of categorising the respondents by key variables. So, what do you want to know? how many parents use tutors? what you'll get on mumsnet is a few responses, skewed to those who like to post on education threads, so that'll be the more educated and/or those who get more het up about education. so far more likely to have a tutor. or to post loftily about why they don't need one. and we already know from wider mumsnet surveys that it has a very skewed set of people when it comes to education, far higher percentages of people in the south east, and using private schools, than the average. etc. you need to factor all that into making sense of your findings.

Those are exactly the type of people that I wish to hear from Fennel.

What I want to know is that of those people who used tutors, did a significant majority use them at school transition phases and is maths the most tutored for subject followed by english and then science?

Is that OK by you Fennel?

They are interesting questions, but I',m still reacting rather to the gung-ho samping strategy...

gung-ho, moi? I thought that was a type of Thai curry .

DS had about half a dozen sessions with a tutor (shared with a friend) to run through VR/NVR papers and (I think) one each of typical maths and English papers ahead of 11+ entry exams for a couple of local independent schools. Seemed to be more than enough, but we're not in a stupidly competitive area.

I wasn't worried about him not making the grade, just wanted to familiarise him with the formats as he hadn't done anything like that before. I could have done it myself with the workbooks but any attempt by me to teach either of my children anything always ends in tears....

Thanks very much for your input folks; I appreciate it.

Yes - for both dc - when school weren't providing the standard of teaching they needed for Maths at A level.

Roughly 50% of our Y1 class is being tutored, one of the Mums has been circulating 'Daphne's' number to all.

I've seen a massive increase in tutoring. It's not something people admit to but IME it is becoming increasingly commonplace.

It's very interesting to see that agencies like Tinies have set up a tutor division now to tutor children age 5 and up.

You need to either have teaching experience or a 2:1 degree to work for them as a tutor, perhaps I should apply?

English for my DD in yr 5 aged 9-10 - she has mild specific learning difficulty.